À propos de ce lieu
The Käfigturm marks the western threshold of Bern's UNESCO old town, a broad tower that the main street simply passes straight through. First raised in 1256 as a defensive gatehouse when the growing city pushed westward, it took on a grimmer role after the great fire of 1405, when the town prison relocated here. Bernese locals nicknamed it the nüwe kefyen, the new cage, and that name eventually softened into Käfigturm, literally the Cage Tower. By 1640 the medieval structure was so decayed that the council had it demolished and rebuilt from scratch, completing the elegant sandstone tower seen today around 1643. It held prisoners until 1897, served afterward as a state archive, and since 1999 has stood for debate and democracy as the home of the country's political forum.
À retenir
- 1256 year — The original gatehouse was built during Bern's second westward expansion
- 49 metres — The rebuilt tower rises this high above Marktgasse, on a square base almost ten metres wide
- 1897 year — Prisoners were held in its cells right up until this year, when they moved to a modern jail
📍 Marktgasse 67, 3011, Bern